June 4 2006

It was a cold and humid day. The clouds were working overtime to hold in their rain; a trickle would escape here and there. Anticipating their first game in three weeks, the Surrey Indians were determined to get this one in.

With the threat of rain lurking all afternoon, the Indians' game plan against the Burnaby Biscuits (who do not have a team website) was to 1) jump out to an early lead, and hope the rain held off long enough to make the game official; 2) keep up their runs for average; and 3) decrease their runs against average. Come to think of it, you can pretty much count on that being their game plan every game.

Game plan 1 was successful, to a degree. The end of the first inning saw the Indians with a 4-0 lead, including a two-run HF by Mr. Ratelle. After that midday moonshot, a few scoreless innings with nothing dramatic (or memorable... or emailable) happening.

Eventually game plan 2 was enacted, and the Indians tacked on a few more runs in the sixth or seventh. Could have been the fifth too. Pretty sure it wasn't the fourth. We really need to be doing these posts earlier in the week.

As for game plan 3, both teams discovered early on that the strike zone was larger than Quentin Tarantino's imagination, and Mr. Ratelle and Mr. Roblero exploited that fact perfectly, fanning a combined twelve Biscuits.

In the eighth, still not happy with the runs scored total, the Indians got their offense going again. The exact moment that their lead was extended to 10-0, the Biscuits began walking off the field, apparently thinking that there was a mercy rule. (FYI, there is a six-runs-max-per-inning rule, except for the ninth/last inning, but no ten-run-lead-after-the-fifth-the-game-is-over rule.) The Indians, however, did not accept their resignation, owing to the fact that they hadn't played a game in three weeks. They wanted to get their hacks in... and their bucks worth.

Notable batting performances
Mr. Heatley: 2-for-2
Mr. C Edger: 2-for-3
Mr. Ratelle: HF to end all HFs

Upon the Biscuits' 27th out, the score was 14-0 and the Surrey Indians had successfully executed all 3 of their game plans. The Indians are currently tied with the Sabres for the lead in runs scored (51), despite playing two less games, which means they have the best runs for average (12.75). And, after Sunday's aforementioned phenomenal pitching, they now have the second best runs against average (5.75).

Next game is this Sunday.
9am at Central Park vs the Rockies.